State Rep. Jarad Klein (R).

The opioid crisis will be addressed this week in the legislature as the House Republicans bring a bill to the floor combating opioid addiction.

House File 2299 places limits on opioid prescriptions, implements Good Samaritan laws for those who report overdoses, and requires physicians to use an electronic tracking service for prescription opioids.

State Representative Jarad Klein (R) is a supporter, “The bill we decided we would run it through the human resources committee but I’ve been very much a part of it dealing with the narcan/naloxone issue, Good Samaritan laws, the stuff I’ve dealt with in the past. But we also include some updates to the Prescription Monitoring Program and that stuff usually heads through the human resources committee, so we collaborated early in session and that was the route we took. I was actually a part of the press conference two weeks ago where we unveiled our plan.”

The proposal requires physicians to use the prescription-drug monitoring program, an electronic system that tracks about every time a pharmacy fills a prescription for opioids and other addictive drugs. The goal is to inform doctors and others if a patient seeking such medications have already received them elsewhere.